STARTUP PRE-SEED STAGE: FINANCING AND ADVISORY – Part 2

This is the second part of our posts about startups in the pre-seed stage, where we continue with the discussion about financing and advisory.

How feasible and realistic is it to access know-how and experience early on? Why is it needed? And how does the right advice improve the chances of getting the”numbers” right, making fewer mistakes, which improves the chances of finding investors and, ultimately, survival.

We suggest the startup needs to attract experienced professional managers. Early on, as soon as possible.The presence of people with managerial expertise will help to gain time, to avoid reinventing the wheel and possibly to avoid expensive mistakes. Some mistakes could cripple a startup.

The roles may be different, for example, in the pre-seed stage it could be in the role of a mentor, in the seed stage as an advisor or a mentor, in the scale-up stage possibly as a manager and as a team member.

So, how do we move from the pre-seed stage to seed stage, on this graph?

Practically this means, being attractive as a startup for people wanting to invest, and being able to prove that you and your team are a candidate “future winner”! (Read: team, BP, metrics etc.etc.)

Also, the right know-how needs to be available to the startup, and depending on the complexity to manage, may be needed on-board. This is perfectly accessible through mentors in the pre-seed stage, and advisors in the seed (startup) stage.

To help you to get the following aspects right which are all relevant to a correct valuation.